Patriots’ pick Hernandez refutes report about marijuana use

While admitting he violated the team’s substance abuse policy at Florida once, the tight end Aaron Hernandez issues a statement saying he did not fail multiple drug tests in college.

Glen Farley

The New England Patriots are hoping that fourth-round draft pick Aaron Hernandez can make a statement his rookie season.

The tight end from Florida has already issued one.

On Tuesday, Hernandez issued a statement through the Patriots refuting remarks in a Boston Globe story that he had failed multiple drug tests for marijuana in college.

Citing sources with three NFL teams, the Globe reported that the failed multiple tests led to Hernandez’s fall in last week’s draft to the 113th selection.

In issuing the statement, Hernandez said he violated the Gators’ substance abuse policy once.

The statement read:

“Leading up to the draft, I provided every interested NFL team with all the information asked of me about football and my personal life. I was as candid as I could possibly be about everything, including my one single violation of the team’s substance testing policy over the course of three years at the University of Florida. That is why I was very surprised and disappointed by the recent inaccurate report of additional violations. I regret what happened, I learned from it and will make better decisions going forward. I couldn’t be more excited about beginning my NFL career and representing the New England Patriots well.”

GLEN FARLEY

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